Bass section of accordions



Sept. 26, 1967 Filed April 13, 1964 J- GIULIETTI BASS SECTION OFACCORDIONS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 N E W "MEL OL D . 11 I4 57- INVENTOR.

JULIO GIULIETTI Sept. 26, 1967 J. GIULIETTI BASS SECTION OF ACCORD'IONS4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 15, 1964 FIG. 3A

lNVENTO/P. Julio Giulietti ATTORNEY p 1967 J. GIULIETTI 3,343,438

BASS SECTION ACCORDIONS Filed April 13, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 32 BASS TSTANDARD FREE BASS JULIO GIULIETTI A T TOP/YE Y United States Patent3,343,438 BASS SECTION OF ACCORDIONS Julio Giulietti, Brooklyn, N.Y.,assignor to Giulietti Accordion Corporation, New York, N.Y. Filed Apr.13, 1964, Ser. No. 359,129 3 Claims. (Cl. 84-376) The present inventionrelates to improvements in the bass section of accordions.

The large size and weight of present-day accordions is mainlyattributable to the large width of the bass section thereof. Thistherefore necessitates the use of bellows and a treble section of thesame width. The large size of the bass section is primarily due to thebass standard reed block and its corresponding valves, which aresignificantly larger than those associated with the free bass.Therefore, elimination of the bass standard reed block and itscorresponding valves would permit construction of an accordion which isnarrower and lighter than those presently in use.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to eliminate thebass standard reed block and the valves associated therewith, and toproduce the bass standard tones by utilizing the valves and reed blocksassociated with the free bass.

Another object of the present invention is to produce a bass sectionwhich is narrower and lighter in weight than those presently in use,thereby permitting construction of an accordion which is narrower andlighter than present day accordions.

' A further object of the present invention is to produce a compact basssection wherein the fingers of the person playing said accordion haveeasy access to the buttons of said bass section and can easily andreadily depress any of said buttons to produce the desired musicaltones.

It is another object to provide a bass section in accordance with thepresent invention which can be used with,

accordions presently in use.

A fuller under-standing of the invention and the man ner in which itsobjectives and advantages may be realized will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description thereof taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of an accordion in accordance withthe present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the bass section of an accordion in accordancewith the present invention.

FIGURE 3 is a top view of the bass section of a conventional accordion.

FIGURE 3A is a top view of a bass section of a conventional accordionwhich has been modified in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 3B is a side View of the bass section shown by FIGURE 3A.

FIGURE 4 is a partial interior view of the bass section of an accordionembodying the present invention.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 66 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4 after thebass standard actuating button has been depressed.

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4 after thefree bass actuating button has been depressed.

FIGURE 9 is a partial sectional view of the bass section of aconventional accordion depicting a bass standard valve assembly.

Referring now to the drawings,

FIGURE 1 depicts an accordion 10; the top view of 3,343,438 PatentedSept. 26, 1967 ICC the bass section 12 of said accordion, which is thesubject of the present invention, is shown in FIGURE 2. The bass section12 of a conventional accordion, of the type presently in use, is shownin FIGURE 3. Therein, reed blocks 14, 1-6 and 18, in conjunction withtheir corresponding valves (not shown), produce the musical tones of thefree bass range. Another reed block 20, of much larger size, inconjunction with its corresponding valves (not shown) produce themusical tones of the bass standard range. The bass section 12 of thepresent invention eliminates the need for the bass standard reed block20 and its corresponding valves, and utilizes the free bass reed blocks14, 16 and 18 to produce the bass standard musical tones; the manner inwhich this is accomplished will be described in detail hereinafter.

The narrower and lighter bass section 12, depicted by FIGURE 2, resultsfrom the elimination of the bass standard reed block 20.

The present invention may also be practiced with conventionalaccordions. This embodiment is depicted in FIGURES 3A and 313, wherein abass section 12", similar to that shown in FIGURE 3, contains only thefree bass reed blocks 14, 16 and 18. The front wall of the bass sectioncan then be tapered inwardly, thereby permitting an accordionist tofreely and easily depress the actuating buttons of said bass sectionwithout having to extend his hand around the larger Width at the top ofthe bass section, as viewed in FIGURE 313.

FIGURE 4 depicts actuating buttons 30 and 32 which when depressedproduce tones in the free bass and bass standard ranges, respectively.As seen in FIGURES 4 and 5, a valve actuating wire element 34 having abifurcated member 36 at one end thereof, has its other end connected tobutton 30; the bifurcated member 36 being pivotally connected to abracket 38 by a stud or rivet 40, said bracket being secured to aplatform 41. A bell crank 42 having an arm 44 connected to the valvecover 46 of a valve 48, is also pivotally connected to the bracket 38 bythe stud 40. A spring 50 has its lower end connected to a bracket 52which is secured to the platform 41 at a point adjacent said valve 48,and the upper end of said spring engages the bell crank 42 by projectingthrough an opening 53 in the upper part thereof, thereby keeping thevalve 48 in a normally closed position.

A post 54 located to the right of valve 48, as viewed in FIGURES 5, 7and 8, is pivotable about a stud 56 which connects the post to a bracket58. A stop block' 60 is provided to limit the counterclockwise rotation(as viewed in FIGURE 5) of said post, both the stop block 60 and thebracket 58 being secured to said platform 41.

A wire element 62 having a U-shaped configuration at one end thereof isslidably mounted by means of said U-shaped configuration on a stud 64which is connected to the post 54, the other end of said wire elementprojects through an opening 53 in the upper end of said bell crank 42,and engages said bell crank. Another wire element 66 having one endconnected to the bass standard actuating button 32 and the other endfree has one end of a bell crank 68 connected approximately midwaybetween the ends of said wire element, the other end of the bell crankbeing connected to a rotating shaft 70, said shaft having two wiremembers 72 and 74 connected thereto. Two valve actuating wire elements76 and 78 have one of their ends connected to the wire members 72 and74, respectively, the other ends of said wire ele ments 76 and 78 haveU-shaped configurations and are slidably mounted on studs '80 and 81which are connected to posts 54 and 55, respectively. The post 55 issimilar to post 54 and is operatively associated with valve '3 q) 49 inthe same manner as is post 54 with respect to valve 48. t

The operation of the present mventlon w1ll now be discussed withparticular reference to FIGURES 4 through 8. It should be noted hereinthat a particular tone in the bass standard range is equivalent to thatsame tone in the free bass range in conjunction with its octave highercomplement. For example, if it is desired to play a middle C, the middleC and high C of the free bass range when played together result in themiddle C of the bass standard range.

When it is desired to produce a tone in the free bass range, theactuating button 30 is depressed causing the valve actuating wireelement 34 to move longitudinally (as seen by FIGURE 8), thereby causingthe bifurcated member 36 to engage the end of wire element 62 causingsaid element to slidably move on said stud 64, concomitantly therewith,the bell crank 42 which is engaged by said wire element 62 pivotallyrotates about the stud 40 causing the valve cover 46 which is connectedto the arm 44 of said bell crank, to move upwardly thereby activatingthe valve 48. When the actuating button 30 is released the spring 50causes the bell crank 42 to return to its normal position, therebyreturning the valve cover 46 and the wire element 62 to their normalpositions. This deactivates the valve 48 and returns the wire element 34to its deactivated position. When the bass standard actuating button 32is depressed, the wire 66 moves downwardly (as viewed in FIGURE 4)causing the bell crank 68 to rotate thereby rotating shaft 70. Rotationof the shaft 70 causes the valve actuating wire elements 76 and 78 toactuate the valves 48 and 49. The operation of the valves in thisinstance will be discussed only with reference to the valve actuatingwire element 76 and its associated valve 48. However, it will beapparent that the same results are simultaneously obtained by the actionof the valve actuating wire element 78 with respect to valve 49, whichis the octave higher complement of valve 48.

As viewed in FIGURE 7 when the valve actuating wire element 76 moveslongitudinally, the U-shaped configuration at the end thereof engagesthe stud 80 connected to the post 54 causing the post 54 to pivotallymove about the stud 56. This in turn causes the wire element 62, whichis engaged by the stud 64 connected to the post 54, to also movelongitudinally in the same direction as said element 76. Since the bellcrank 42 is engaged by element 62, the longitudinal movement of theelement 62 causes the bell crank 42 to pivotally move about the stud 40thereby causing the valve cover 46 to move upwardly; the upward movementof the valve cover 46 activating valve 48. When the actuating button 32is released, the spring 50 causes the bell crank 42 to pivotally moveback to its normal position, thereby deactivating the valve 48 andsimultaneously causing the wire element 62 to return the post 54 to itsnormal position, and the return movement of said post returns the valveactuating wire element 76 to its normal position.

It is thus seen, that the bass standard button produces the same tonepreviously produced by the bass standard valve of conventionalaccordions, as illustrated by FIG- URE 9, by simultaneously playing thesame tone and its octave higher complement in the free bass range. Thepresent invention, therefore, has eliminated the need for the bulky bassstandard structure presently employed in conventional accordions.

Although the present invention has been described with free bassactuating buttons produces a tone in the free bass range; two such valveactuating elements also being connected to each of said bass standardactuating buttons, the tone produced by a second valve so connectedbeing the octave higher complement of the tone produced by a first valveso connected, whereby depression of one of said bass standard buttonsproduces a tone in the bass standard range which corresponds to the toneproduced in the free bass range by said first valve in conjunction withthe octave higher complement thereof.

2. An accordion bass section in accordance with claim' 1 wherein each ofsaid valves has a bell crank, a post and a spring connected thereto,wherein the valve actuating elements connected to the free bassactuating button has one end thereof connected to said button and theother end thereof engaging the bell crank when said button is depressedthereby causing said bell crank to actuate said valve, the spring beingconnected to said bell crank to cause said bell crank to deactuate saidvalve when said button is released, and said two valve actuatingelements connected to said bass standard actuating button each havingone of their ends connected to said bass standard actuating button andthe other of their ends connected one to each of the posts of said firstand second valves when said bass standard actuating button is depressedthereby causing the bell cranks, which are connected to said posts, toactuate both of said valves, the springs being connected to said bellcranks to deactuate both of said valves when the bass standard actuatingbutton is released.

3. A bass section of an accordion in accordance with claim 2, whereinsaid valve actuating elements are connected to said bass standardactuating button by means of a shaft and another bell crank, said otherbell crank being connected to said bass standard actuating button and tosaid shaft, said shaft being rotated by said other bell crank when saidbass standard actuating button is.

depressed, and said valve actuating elements having said first mentionedends thereof connected to said shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 364,609 6/1887 Stratton 84-3761,059,139 4/1913 Galleazzi 84-376 1,908,246 5/1933 Hohner 84-3762,023,342 11/1935 Schmidt 84-376 2,220,660 11/1940 Razzaboni 84-3762,556,408 6/1951 Ahern et al 84-376 2,798,400 7/ 1957 Paccitietti 84-3762,861,495 11/1958 Ekstrom 84-376 FOREIGN PATENTS 579,449 7/ 1958 Italy.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner, M. LORCH, Assistant Examiner,

1. IN AN ACCORDION BASS SECTION, FREE BASS REED BLOCKS AND VALVESASSOCIATED THEREWITH FOR PRODUCING TONES IN THE FREE BASS RANGE, FREEBASS ACTUATING BUTTONS AND BASS STANDARD ACTUATING BUTTONS, VALVEACTUATING ELEMENTS CONNECTED TO EACH OF SAID VALUES AND ITSCORRESPONDING FREE BASS ACTUATING BUTTON, WHEREBY DEPRESSION OF ONE OFSAID FREE BASS ACTUATING BUTTONS PRODUCES A TONE IN THE FREE BASS RANGE;TWO SUCH VALVE ACTUATING ELEMENTS ALSO BEING CONNECTED TO EACH OF SAIDBASS STANDARD ACTUATING BUTTONS, THE TONE PRODUCED BY A SECOND VALVE SOCONNECTED BEING THE OCTAVE HIGHER COMPLEMENT OF THE TONE PRODUCED BY AFIRST VALVE SO CONNECTED, WHEREBY DEPRESSION OF ONE OF SAID BASSSTANDARD BUTTONS PRODUCES A TONE IN THE BASS STANDARD RANGE WHICHCORRESPONDS TO THE TONE PRODUCED IN THE FREE BASS RANGE BY SAID FIRSTVALVE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE OCTAVE HIGHER COMPLEMENT THEREOF.